Alabama Song

Show me the way to the next whiskey bar
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
Show me the way to the next whiskey bar
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find the next whiskey bar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you
I tell you
I tell you we must die

Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say say good-bye
We've lost our good old mamma
And must have whiskey
Oh, you know why.

Show me the way to the next pretty girl
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
Show me the way to the next pretty girl
Oh don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find the next pretty girl
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you
I tell you
I tell you we must die

Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say good-bye
We've lost our good old mamma
And must have a girl
Oh, you know why.

Show me the way to the next little dollar
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
Show me the way to the next little dollar
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
For if we don't find the next little dollar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you
I tell you
I tell you we must die

Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say good-bye
We've lost our good old mamma
And must have dollars
Oh, you know why.

Bertolt Brecht

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German playwright, poet, and theatre director of the 20th century. He established himself as a prominent literary figure by pioneering epic theatre, which aimed to provoke rational thought and social change in contrast to traditional forms of theatre. Brecht's notable works include "Mother Courage and Her Children" and "The Threepenny Opera."

Bertolt Brecht

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English

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Three Songs To The Same Tune

I

Grandfather sang it under the gallows:
" Hear, gentlemen, ladies, and all mankind:
Money is good and a girl might be better.
But good strong blows are delights to the mind."
There, standing on the cart,
He sang it from his heart.
i(Those fanatics all that we do would undo;)
i(Down the fanatic, down the clown;)
i(Down, down, hammer them down,)
i(Down to the tune of O'Donnell Abu.)
"A girl I had, but she followed another,
Money I had, and it went in the night,
Strong drink I had, and it brought me to sorrow,
But a good strong cause and blows are delight."
All there caught up the tune:
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i(Those fanatics all that we do would undo;)
i(Down the fanatic, down the clown;)
i(Down, down, hammer them down,)
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William Butler Yeats

The Rubaiyat Of Ohow Dryyam With Apologies To Omar

I

Wail! for the Law has scattered into flight
Those Drinks that were our sometime dear Delight;
And still the Morals-tinkers plot and plan
New, sterner, stricter Statutes to indite.


II

After the phantom of our Freedom died
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried:
"Drink coffee, Lads, for that is all that's left
Since our Land of the Free is washed--and dried."


[Illustration:

And still the Morals-tinkers plot and plan
New, sterner, stricter Statutes to indite.]


III

The Haigs indeed are gone, and on the Nose
That bourgeoned once with color of the rose
A deathly Pallor sits, while down the lane
Where once strode Johnny Walker--Water goes.


IV

Come, fill the Cup, a...

J. L. Duff

The Merryman And His Maid

[HE]    I have a song to sing, O!
[SHE]    Sing me your song, O!
[HE]    It is sung to the moon
By a love-lorn loon,
Who fled from the mocking throng, O!
It's the song of a merryman, moping mum,
Whose soul was sad, whose glance was glum,
Who sipped no sup, and who craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye.
Heighdy! heighdy!
Misery me - lackadaydee!
He sipped no sup, and he craved no crumb,
As he sighed for the love of a ladye!

[SHE]    I have a song to sing, O!
[HE]    Sing me your song, O!
[SHE]    It is sung with the ring
Of the song maids sing
Who love with a love life-long, O!
It's the song of a merrymaid, peerly proud,
Who loved a lord, and who laughed aloud
At the moan of the merryman, moping mum,
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Three Marching Songs

Remember all those renowned generations,
They left their bodies to fatten the wolves,
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Fled to far countries, or sheltered themselves
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Defending Ireland's soul.
i(Be still, be still, what can be said?
My father sang that song,
But time amends old wrong,
All that is finished, let it fade.)
Remember all those renowned generations,
Remember all that have sunk in their blood,
Remember all that have died on the scaffold,
Remember all that have fled, that have stood,
Stood, took death like a tune
On an old,tambourine.
i(Be still, be still, what can be said?
My father sang that song,
But time amends old wrong,
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The Drunkard's Funeral

"Yes," said the sister with the little pinched face,
The busy little sister with the funny little tract: -
"This is the climax, the grand fifth act.
There rides the proud, at the finish of his race.
There goes the hearse, the mourners cry,
The respectable hearse goes slowly by.
The wife of the dead has money in her purse,
The children are in health, so it might have been worse.
That fellow in the coffin led a life most foul.
A fierce defender of the red bar-tender,
At the church he would rail,
At the preacher he would howl.
He planted every deviltry to see it grow.
He wasted half his income on the lewd and the low.
He would trade engender for the red bar-tender,
He would homage render to the red bar-tender,
And in ultimate surrender to the red bar-tender,

Vachel Lindsay

The Song Of The Bereaved.

(I have borrowed thy pattern, dear Hood, to cut out our mourning garments.)


With garments for sorrow torn,
    With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat by a new-made grave,
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Weep! weep! weep!
    Tears of remorseful pain;
The sorrow that sorrows without a hope,
    Is poured forth above the slain.

Drink! drink! drink!
    It slayeth on every side,
Till the blue-eyed baby is fatherless,
    And a desolate widow the bride.
O for a gleam of light
    On the home, on the friendly hand,
That pours in kindness the burning draught
    That maketh a desolate land.

Drink! drink! drink!
    The horse-leech ever craves,
There are empty chairs in the desolate home,
    And the earth swells with...

Nora Pembroke